Kluster - Wunderkind Kaufman Back With Startup Kluster

A Vermont entrepreneur barely 21 years old is rapidly approaching the designation "serial entrepreneur" by merging the concepts of user-generated content and online collaboration into his new business, focused on web-based communities generating ideas for new products.

Ben Kaufman returned this week from Monterey, Calif., where he publicly launched Kluster Inc. at the three-day Technology, Entertainment and Design, or TED, conference.

The nascent business is using the same strategy to commercialize the collaboration process that Kaufman used to develop an iPod accessory for the previous company he founded, Mophie Inc. In 2006, he gathered suggestions from attendees at the MacWorld Expo for Mophie's next iPod accessory. The product turned out to be an iPod case that was also a key ring and a bottle opener -- and Mophie sold 40,000 of them.
Employing what Kluster calls "open source decision making," 2,700 people at the TED conference contributed suggestions to generate an educational board game that is designed to expand players' cultural awareness. Back home in Burlington, Vt., Kaufman said he plans to refine the game, called "Over There," and produce it

"It was exactly what we wanted," said Kaufman, "We plan on getting it out to the world."

Kluster plans to generate revenue with a fee equal to 33 percent of reward pools (as high as $50,000) customers offer to project contributors.

Last September, Kaufman sold Mophie to Michigan-based mStation Corp. for an undisclosed amount. Kaufman started Kluster with $3 million from Williamstown-based Village Ventures and FreshTracks Capital.

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